


And Your Little Dog Too

by Mosca



Series: Tales from Scheherezade [2]
Category: Figure Skating RPF, Firefly
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, IN SPACE!, M/M, Married Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:44:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9891131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mosca/pseuds/Mosca
Summary: Charlie isn't officially the captain, but he does run every gorram thing around here. Which is how he almost starts a mafia war and, worse, gets his wife mighty cross.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fandom fusion, set in the Firefly 'verse but starring figure skaters. If you're primarily a Firefly fan, this will work as a story about original characters, minus a few in-jokes. If you're primarily a figure skating fan, you might need to brush up on your classic TV. 
> 
> This story contains: threats of violence including gunplay, an off-screen and non-graphic shooting, off-screen crime including theft and breaking & entering, and intentionally dodgy Chinese.
> 
> Xie xie to Footnoterphone for pestering me until I pulled this out of mothballs, then beta reading when I finally finished it.

Tanith was naked down to her socks before she decided to talk business. She crossed her arms over her bare breasts to stop Charlie from staring at them, or to express her incredulity, whatever, it meant Charlie wasn’t getting sexed until his wife got a full financial rundown. “You promised our haul to the _Orange?_ ”

“They offered a good price,” Charlie said.

“We have a cargo bay full of site-processed, unmarked zinc, copper, and nickel. Anybody you ask’ll offer a good price. You ever thought of shopping around?”

“Used to be, we had a you ni lou ti to find one buyer,” Charlie said. “You think I’m gonna go to the trouble of finding two?”

“If it stops us from dealing with the Orange, I reckon you will.” Tanith pulled one of his old shirts over her head. She looked even sexier that way, her long legs trailing miles from the shirt’s hem. “Charlie, you know how long it took me to get out from under their thumb. Who I had to be to stay alive once I got mixed up with them. If it was our only way to get paid, I’d give it the okay, but we got in-demand cargo here.”

For the sake of his marriage, Charlie indulged her. It wasn’t wise to let the Orange get too angry, but a little bidding war wouldn’t hurt anyone. “Got any suggestions for who to pit against ‘em?”

“On Persephone?” Tanith said. “Well, there’s always Johnny.”

“Thought you two weren’t so close anymore,” Charlie said.

“Put us together, and it’s just like old times,” she said. “But you should make the call. He likes you.”

Unlike the Orange Syndicate, a huge entity that held various amounts of sway over black markets from the Core to Beau Monde, Johnny was an independent businessman. Tanith had run with him for a time, before the Orange had sucked her in. When it had spit her back out, they’d renewed an uneasy friendship, partly because Johnny had taken an unaccountable shine to Charlie. He’d sent a generous wedding gift, tied with invisible strings: if they came around Persephone without saying hello, Johnny got mighty cross.

Johnny had about half a chance in hell of matching the Orange’s offer, but he could be put to use, driving them into a bidding war. Besides, it was always worth the wave to see what he was wearing. Charlie put in the call, and Johnny responded immediately. Today’s outfit was a grass-green blazer over a ruffled silk shirt, pearl pink with a pattern of tiny triangles. Charlie couldn’t see Johnny’s trousers, but he had no doubt they were skin-tight and tucked into outrageously pointy shoes. “Charles,” Johnny greeted him, drawing the “a” into a sultry purr. “It’s been far too long.”

“We’re a day out from Persephone,” Charlie said. “Hoped you could quote me a price on some cargo.”

“You shipped out with no buyer? How’d you afford the overhead? Unless -” Johnny looked sternly at him. “I believe I _insisted_ you spend your gift on something fun.” 

“Haven’t spent the gift yet,” Charlie said. “Paid with the profits from the last job. Anyway, we got a buyer. I thought maybe you could outbid them.”

“How devious,” Johnny said. “What kind of cargo?”

When Charlie described it, Johnny’s eyes went large. “I do believe I can make that happen. I don’t have the capital on hand, myself, but I have a solid partnership with the local Medvezhonok franchise. I’ll have to speak to them before I give you a quote, just to keep things honest. But I’m sure they’ll put up enough to give the Orange a dry fuck in the ass.”

“How’d you know we were dealing with the Orange?” Charlie said, genuinely perplexed.

“Anyone else, and you’d have named them up front,” Johnny said. “I can’t imagine Tanith’s pleased about it either. How _is_ your magnificent wife?”

“Beautiful as ever, and twice as smart,” Charlie said. “Why shouldn’t I go to the Medvezhonok directly?”

Johnny scoffed. “In what ‘Verse would you get an audience?”

“You reckon that might change if this deal goes through?” 

“I believe stranger alliances have been made,” Johnny said. “And thrived.”

“Well, you get me a price by the time we land, and this might be advantageous for all of us,” Charlie said.

“All except the Orange,” Johnny said. “You’re not concerned they’ll come after you?”

“I’m never concerned,” Charlie said. “Because I’m always prepared.”

“That’s why I adore you, Charles.” Johnny looked like he would have stolen a kiss if they’d been in the same room. “Fabulous hair on top, balls of steel below.”

Charlie trotted off to tell Meryl, certain she’d be pleased at the prospect of extra coin. She’d sighed at him when he’d told her they were moving cargo for the Orange. And if anyone could sweet-talk the Russians, it was Meryl.

Before Charlie could locate his better half - either of his better halves, since Tanith would relish the news, too - Jeremy stopped him in the cushion room. “Reckon the captain’ll let me borrow the spare shuttle? I got Syndicate business on Persephone, don’t want to tie you folks up in it.”

“Can’t imagine she’ll mind,” Charlie said. At first, Charlie’d had some reservations about taking on a mechanic as mobbed up as Jeremy. But Jeremy put his current job ahead of his old connections, and he kept the engine turning smooth. Charlie got the impression that whatever Jeremy’s true role was in the Rainbow Syndicate, he played it better with a wrench on a cargo ship than he could with a shotgun on Boros.

“I’d ask her myself, but I can’t track her down,” Jeremy said. “You seen her?”

“She ain’t in the kitchen or the cockpit?”

“No, and she ain’t home, either,” Jeremy said.

“Then I know where to find her.” Charlie led Jeremy down to the cargo bay, where, as expected, Meryl was embroiled in a ferocious two-on-two floor hockey game, her and Maia against Gracie and the new girl. Alex, Jason, and Josh sat on the catwalk above, cheering them on.

“Who wants to make some extra money?” Charlie called out.

All three boys raised their hands quickly.

“Put ‘em down, none of you are getting a cut,” Charlie said.

Jeremy whistled to interrupt the game.

“Yeah, we heard you the first time,” Maia grumbled.

Gracie sneered at her. “Cool it a minute, he’s talking about getting us money.”

“What kind of huang miu stunt did you pull this time?” Meryl said, although she sounded more curious than irritated.

“You know that cargo we promised to the Orange?” Charlie said. “Well, we might have someone else willing to pay more for it.”

“Praise Jesus,” Gracie said, but Meryl drowned her out with a stern, “What do you say we finish this discussion in private?”

“Ain’t nothing to discuss ‘til we hear back from Johnny,” Charlie said.

Meryl snorted. “Should’ve known that ru hua de hun dan was in on this.”

“Listen. Johnny ain’t never done wrong by us. He’s the way he is.”

“Out for his own gain,” Meryl said.

“Yeah, well, name me one person who ain’t,” Gracie butted in, apparently still under the impression she had a voice in the matter. The rest of the crew had wandered off. 

“See? I’m so right even Gracie agrees with me,” Charlie said.

“Hey, I ain’t taking sides,” Gracie said. “I just like getting paid, is all.”

“Don’t you worry,” Charlie said. “Either way, you get paid. This way, you just get paid more.” He gave her a brotherly pat on the shoulder, then turned back to Meryl. “Oh, and by the way? Jeremy needs the spare shuttle. Syndicate business.”

Meryl threw up her hands. “Fine.”

Charlie jogged up to the cockpit, feeling a touch guilty for leaving Tanith alone there. She didn’t mind flying the ship - it was her job, after all - but he sometimes got lonesome on her behalf. He came up behind her, startling her a little, and kissed the top of her head. “You were right,” he said. “Looks like Johnny’s fixing to come through for us.”

“He generally does,” Tanith said. “Funny how he always seems to think we deserve it.”

“He don’t harbor you no ill will. Ain’t nothing that happened, was your fault.”

“You wouldn’t believe that if you weren’t married to me,” Tanith said, with a faraway sigh that reminded him how one condition of being her husband was never finding out the whole story. He’d never met anyone so capable of shedding their skin completely, of casting off their past and becoming a wholly new person. A tiny, nagging part of him feared that a few years down the road, she’d do it again, and the woman he loved would cease to exist.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m married to you,” Charlie said.

Tanith wheeled around in her pilot’s chair. “I do believe that before we started talking business, we were in the process of getting naked.”

“No reason we can’t start that up again right here,” Charlie said.

She was already pulling her top over her head. She hadn’t bothered to put a bra on underneath. “You offering me a quickie in the cockpit, husband?”

“Don’t even got to be quick,” Charlie said. “Whole crew’s down in the cargo bay playing hockey.”

He’d barely sat in her lap and put a hand on her tits before a light on the dashboard flashed with an incoming wave. Tanith muttered an inventive curse as she searched for her shirt and the “accept” button simultaneously. She fussed with her hair as Johnny’s face appeared on the overhead screen.

“I’m glad you’re here, Tanith,” Johnny said, his voice more silken with smugness than the last time they’d talked. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Not at all,” Charlie said. Tanith kicked him swiftly in the ankle, not hard enough to hurt.

“You’ll be happy to hear the Medvezhonok have made a very generous offer for your cargo,” Johnny said. “And I want you to take every precaution to make sure they follow through.”

“So we do this behind the Orange’s back?” Charlie guessed. “No chance for a counter-bid?”

“Oh, you can tell the Orange whatever you want. They’ll storm off as soon as they hear the Little Bear is involved. There have been some. . . tensions, and the Orange isn’t powerful enough here to risk all-out war over a metal shipment.”

Tanith had that stern, distant look she got on her face when the zombies of her past refused to stay dead. Johnny had coded something into his words that Tanith had heard and Charlie had missed. She asked, “If secrecy is optional, what _do_ you need from us?”

“I need you to stay home while your husband does the dirty work.” Johnny must have known how that would irk her, but he could get away with it. “You’ve been out for a long time, but to them you’ll always stink of oranges.”

“But she - I ain’t leaving her home, Johnny,” Charlie said.

“It’s fine.” Tanith patted Charlie’s shoulder. “He’s right.”

“Better keep that so-called mechanic of yours off the premises, too,” Johnny continued. “We all know those tattoos are more than pretty pictures. I want you, Meryl, and that blonde girl with the scowl and the guns. And that’s it.”

Charlie couldn’t argue. It was the team he’d normally bring. Meryl for brains, Gracie to wave a gun around and look mentally unstable, and Charlie himself for client relations. “If Tanith says we got a plan, then we got one,” he said. “So, honey, we got a plan?”

“We got a very good one,” said Tanith.

“We’ll make landfall in - how long, Tan?”

Tanith pushed a few buttons. “27 hours, give or take.”

“Will you be ready for us, Johnny?” Charlie asked.

“I’m certain of it.” Wickedness danced in Johnny’s eyes. “I’ll wave you the location as soon as it’s arranged.”

After she closed the connection, Tanith turned to Charlie with a bemused grimace. “Looks like I’ll be rattling around the ship with the Danger Twins.”

“I’m sure you’ll find some way to keep busy,” Charlie said.

“No doubt.” She was already up to something.

As they were cleaning up dinner, he found out what. Jason came up to him, hands full of dish soap, and asked, “Mind if me and Mariah borrow your wife?” Jason laughed like Charlie must have made some kind of horrified face. “Not like that, I mean, since she can’t go on your job, we could use - we need someone to drive.”

“She’s a grown woman. Why don’t you go ask her?”

“‘Cause she said she had no business going unless it was hao de yu ni.” Jason sounded sweet and unpracticed, like he was just asking, but Charlie knew that was the core of his game. He was the least threatening man Charlie had ever met, and he made an art of it.

“Ain’t up to me,” Charlie said. “Just don’t get her killed.”

“I’ve never in my life gotten anyone killed,” Jason said, in a way that made it clear he had many times, but there was no way to prove it.

Charlie studied Jason in the crack in that perfect facade of cheerfulness. Not finding it, he inquired, “What exactly did you say she’d be driving?”

Jason laughed disarmingly. “Can’t tell you that, I’m afraid. Can’t tell Tanith, either, until we’re next to it.”

Charlie tried to come up with a way to pick at that, but Jason was, as usual, a smiling wall. “Fine,” Charlie said, finally. “Just don’t -”

“I know,” Jason said. “But the truth is? And don’t take this the wrong way, mind you. The truth is, you’re more likely to get yourselves blown up, messing with two rival syndicates, than we are to scrape our knees.”

Before Charlie could argue - or grudgingly agree - Josh sidled through with a bag of trash and a kiss on the cheek for Jason. Even taking out the garbage, Josh moved like a dancer. Josh seemed savvy enough, and Charlie wondered how he could fall so blindly for Jason’s gou shi. Charlie couldn’t figure out what Jason was using Josh for, but it couldn’t possibly be true love.

*

A day later, they were out of the sky and lined up among the misfit spacecraft that populated the Persephone docks. Some of the ships stationed crew members outside, hoping to lure passengers or tenants, but Charlie was proud to hang his “No Vacancy” sign. Most of his competitors would have killed for five tenants with enough steady income to pay their rent and enough consideration to pitch in on chores. Sometimes, it worried him that someone might literally kill for it, but he reckoned Alex and Maia could hold their own in a gunfight.

Charlie had assumed Jason, Tanith, and the new girl would zoom away in the shuttle once they reached orbit, but they landed with the rest. “We’re taking a train,” Tanith had explained giddily as they’d waited for landing clearance. “Got assigned seats and everything. Jason says folks come through with drinks, carts of food, souvenirs, you name it.” Charlie didn’t have the heart to tell her she was maybe not taking this seriously enough. Or that she was maybe more enthusiastic about this side job than she’d ever been about one of his and Meryl’s.

Once Tanith had settled _Scheherezade_ ’s feet into the earth, she disappeared into Jason’s shuttle awhile. When she emerged, he’d dressed her in a long camel-colored coat, loose over her thin shoulders but still richer and finer than anything she owned, and covered her hair in a floral headscarf that made her look like she was fixing to either pray or stick up a bank. She looked simultaneously like his wife and like a stranger. She kissed Charlie’s cheek. “I’m late already. Don’t get yourself dead, husband.”

“You neither,” Charlie said. She was gone before he could add, _I love you._

He gathered up Meryl and Gracie so they could head to the meeting point. Gracie was making a big show of comparing firearms, and Meryl was doing a poor job of humoring her. “You don’t need that gorram cannon,” Meryl said as Gracie raised a semi-automatic rifle to her chest.

“I’ll only use it if I run out of ammo on the other one,” Gracie said.

“You won’t use it at all,” Meryl said. “Remember, the goal is getting paid, not shooting people.”

Gracie pouted a moment, thoughtfully. “Hang on a tick, Captain. Gotta lock this up back in my bunk so the Shibs don’t go messing with my best gun while I’m out getting paid.” 

“Don’t be slow,” Meryl said. When Gracie was out of earshot, Meryl turned to Charlie and added, “Girl’s crazy as an attic full of bats, but she’s got more sense than we give her credit for.”

Gracie returned, two sensibly sized guns tucked into her belt, and they walked together to a nondescript building a short distance from the docks. The sign above the door advertised hats for both men and women, and sure enough, they passed dusty displays of headgear on their way to a secret back door. “Wonder what happens if someone comes in to buy a hat,” Charlie whispered to Meryl. 

The sit-down with the Medvezhonok was uneventful, suspiciously so. Charlie had expected to be kept waiting, but Johnny and two thin, razor-faced women were already sipping tea at a long wooden table when he and his crew arrived. Wordlessly, one of the women lifted a canvas bag of cash from under the table and unzipped it to reveal stacks of chipped, nonsequential bills. 

“Count it,” she said. Meryl did as requested, and Johnny sat back, arms folded over his sky-blue scarf and crisp houndstooth shirt, like a proud parent. Charlie was about to extend his hand to the pair of women and thank them for the smoothest transaction in his many years of running cargo, when it turned out to be nothing of the kind.

The door to the meeting room opened almost silently. Alone and unguarded, a slim man strolled in. He was wraithlike in his black suit, which was unadorned except for a silver snake-shaped brooch that curved from his chest to his shoulder. He took one of the empty chairs from the corner of the room and pulled it up to the end of the table. Sitting backwards in it, long legs bent into a crouch, he looked like a predatory stork. “Sorry I’m late,” he said.

“You weren’t invited, Evan,” Johnny growled. Unlike most people, Charlie had heard this low menace in Johnny’s voice before, and he knew what violence could come of it.

“That’s never stopped me before, Weir,” Evan said.

“As a matter of fact, you’re right,” Johnny said. “It encourages you, doesn’t it?” He glanced at Charlie and smiled, as if to reassure him that this was a set-up. “You’ve never met a party you couldn’t find a way to crash.” 

“All I know is, we had a deal,” Evan said blankly.

“You put in an offer,” Meryl replied, cool-headed as she needed to be. “These folks put in a better one. It’s all business. No harm done.”

Evan zipped open the bag of money. “All cash, I see. Well, we can’t offer that. But here’s what we can.” He drew a long-barrelled pistol from beneath his suit lapel.

Before Charlie could call for Gracie to do her job, she was on it, though not in the way he expected. Gracie slid up behind Evan in an instant, gloved fingers almost brushing his neck but not touching him. “I can’t believe Mr. Carroll told you to resort to violence. He must like you. He didn’t hardly never let me do that.”

“What the qi ge di yu do you know about Mr. Carroll?” Evan said.

“I done a few jobs for you folks before I took up with my current employer,” Gracie said. “The one thing I picked up is, don’t nothing happen ‘less it goes through the old man.” Before the end of that sentence, through some sleight of hand she might have learned from Jason (if not from this Mr. Carroll), Evan’s gun was in her grasp. “I don’t reckon you’ll fancy explaining to him how you fouled this piece of shit assignment up by shooting two Russian girls through the brain.”

The pair of thin women gasped as Gracie pointed the pistol at them.

Evan held up his hands. “No need for that,” he said, scrambling. “Money’s already changed hands.”

Gracie tucked the gun into her belt, settling the question of how she’d built that arsenal she displayed so proudly in her bunk. 

“We do hope this one incident won’t hurt our good standing with the Orange in the future,” Meryl piped up. 

“Not at all,” Evan said, though his face betrayed a personal distaste for that judgment. He’d been sent to test them based on what his bosses wanted, not on his own private opinions. “You’ve shown you ain’t afraid to fight for your cargo and your payment. I reckon the old man will think well of that.”

“So that’s settled, then,” Johnny said, stretching up from his chair, feigning boredom. “Thanks for stopping by, Evan.” 

“What can I say?” Evan said. “I just can’t resist you, Weir.”

“Well, it’s a good thing _I_ can resist the fuck out of _you,”_ Johnny snapped back. Evan seethed silently at him for a moment before strolling out, as deliberately as he’d come in, and shutting the door behind him with a soft, passive-aggressive snap.

Johnny stood, adjusting the lapels of his shirt. “I apologize for that unpleasantness.”

Meryl flipped her hair over her shoulder and picked up the bag of money. “So we’re done here? If so, I reckon we’d best take our leave before we’re interrupted again.”

So as not to offend Johnny, Charlie reached out for a hug. “Don’t be a stranger.”

“I’ll send out a wave if I hear of any business opportunities that might suit you,” Johnny said. “My best to Tanith, as always.” 

Charlie, Meryl, and Gracie walked back to Scheherezade. There was no discussion as to whether Gracie got to carry the money bag; she’d earned that badge of accomplishment. As they raised the hatch into the cargo bay, Charlie said, “There’s just one thing I can’t figure out. Johnny was mighty emphatic about Tanith and Jeremy not coming along, but Gracie - sounds like you’re just as tangled up in the Orange as any of them. And he wanted you there. Insisted on it. Like he knew we’d need you if anything went hou zi de pi gu.”

“Dunno,” Gracie said. “Most he’s ever said to me is, I got a good hand with a makeup brush.” She chewed her lip, which had remained a solid, glossy red despite the day’s tribulations. “World of difference between quitting the Orange and getting booted, though.”

Meryl stopped in her tracks, cutting Gracie short so they both almost fell over like dominoes. “How the hell do you get the Orange to kick you out?”

Gracie grinned as if proud of the memory. “Old man said I was dangerous and unstable, and he didn’t want no part of me, no matter how sharp an eye I had.” She patted the new pistol at her hip. “Took a year of theater to convince him he’d come up with that notion himself.” She dropped the money bag on the cargo bay floor, making the metal sheeting rattle. “Let me know when you’ve divided up the cash. I never was too good at math.”

When Gracie had disappeared from view, Meryl said, “That girl’s going to kill us all in our sleep some night.”

Charlie replied, “Maybe so. Or maybe she’s the one to wake up and save us all.”

As he walked to the control panel to close the cargo door, a vehicle whooshed through, coming to a smooth stop in the center of the cargo bay. It was the shape of a squished eggplant and coated in shimmery silver paint that meant it was designed to run on solar energy. The three giggling thieves who climbed out of it must have crammed themselves tightly inside. One of them was his wife.

“You can’t bring that thing in here,” Charlie scolded.

Jason shrugged. “Seems to fit alright. And we’re going to have to transport it to Boros one way or another.”

“Ain’t scheduled for Boros,” Charlie said, as if he were scheduled for anywhere else. He realized, ashamed of himself, that he hadn’t lined up another job. “How’d you drive that gaudy jewel through the docks and not get pinched?”

“Funny thing about a car like this,” Tanith said. “You drive it like you know where you’re going, and folks believe it.”

“So you got a buyer on Boros?” Meryl asked Jason, all business.

“I was commissioned to reclaim it,” Jason said. “Normally, I turn down a heist if the goods don’t fit in my coat pocket, but this was too much fun to pass up.”

Tanith stroked the car’s hood. “And I get to die knowing I once drove a Hoshino Foxfire 280 through the hills of Persephone.”

“A man could get jealous, the way you look at that thing,” Charlie said.

“I’ll have to say goodbye to her soon enough,” Tanith said. She unspooled the scarf that had been covering her hair and draped it over Charlie’s shoulders. “You, I get to keep.”

He’d just barely gotten a moment to kiss his wife when Alex ran into the bay. “Emergency wave from the shuttle,” he said breathlessly. “They’re going to roll in. Someone’s hurt, but Jeremy’s his usual sweet, vague self.”

Charlie’s instincts kicked into gear. “Get out of here and go set up the infirmary, then,” he commanded. “Tanith and Meryl, check the shuttle locks, make sure they’re ready for a ground docking. And - who else is in here? New girl, there’s an extra fold-out mattress in one of the cabinets in your room, should inflate when you unroll it. Put that on top of the antigrav, make us a stretcher. Get Gracie out of her bunk if you need an extra set of hands.”

Charlie’s crew dispersed, leaving him alone in the cargo bay with Jason. “What about me?” Jason asked.

“I thought you didn’t take orders,” Charlie said.

“Under the circumstances, I want to help out if I can.”

“You wait here with me,” Charlie said. “If it’s Josh who’s hurt, he’ll want you holding his hand.”

“Well,” Jason said. “Thank you.”

They were both talkative men, which made the ensuing silence that much more awkward. Charlie would have kept it up indefinitely, making a point, but Jason didn’t give him the satisfaction. “It’s ironic that you’re so distrustful of me,” Jason said. “I’ve always been upfront with you. It’s important that you know I’m not running a long con on you, or on Meryl. Or on Josh. Maybe that’s hard for you to understand, since you’re always on the clock. Your life is your work. But mine’s not.”

Charlie laughed darkly. “You do realize that talking your way through a problem doesn’t help your case much.”

“Then I’ll hope to show it in my actions,” Jason said. “Although that hasn’t borne much fruit, either.”

“Not when your actions involve taking my wife for a joyride in a car worth more than she’ll ever see in her life,” Charlie said.

Jason rolled his eyes. “You can’t even accept a gift?”

“That ain’t a gift,” Charlie said. “That’s a big silver target in the middle of my cargo bay.”

“The car isn’t the gift. I took Tanith on an adventure and got her mind off being left out of a job she thought she should have been involved in. I thought you’d appreciate the gesture. I hoped you would, at least.”

Charlie couldn’t quite bring himself to thank Jason. He ran his knuckles over the hood of the car. “You really got a buyer for this thing?”

“Not a buyer,” Jason said. “Like I told you, it was a reclamation job. I’m restoring it to the person who should have possession of it.” He giggled like Charlie was the unwitting target of a joke. “It’s a showier job than I usually take, but it was a tough one for the Guild to assign, and I thought, I’m here anyway, I have two accomplices, why not?”

For once, Charlie picked up the crucial clue in Jason’s barrage of words. “You have Guild training.”

“I’m a member in good standing,” Jason said. “And don’t ask me which one. Your best guess is close enough to the truth.”

“I don’t know much about guilds,” Charlie lied. He’d met a recruiter as a child, a squinty-eyed man who’d looked him up and down, then run him through a battery of tests: physical, intellectual, emotional. Afterward, Charlie had lingered on the stairs while the recruiter had spoken in hushed tones to his mother. He’d only heard the end of the conversation, his mother desperate like he’d never seen her before. _You can’t have my boy. You can’t take him to that early grave._ There had been no further discussion, but a few months later, Charlie had been sent away to the best academy on Santo. He’d been lonely five minutes there before he’d met Meryl, and they’d been trouble together ever since.

Before Jason could launch into another alluring string of half-truths, everything happened at once. A truck rolled up to the open cargo bay door, its back ramp unfolding to reveal cages full of squealing puppies. At the same moment, the spare shuttle roared into its dock as Tanith shouted over it, “Ta ma de wo ce shen, where are those girls with the stretcher?”

As if they’d heard her, Mariah and Gracie ran in, breathless, the spare mattress spilling off the antigrav. Women crowded around the shuttle door, loading Josh onto the makeshift stretcher. Jason ran over, pushing them aside, and Charlie followed. He needed to keep abreast of his crew. Jason squeezed both of Josh’s hands, tears running down his cheeks. “What happened? What did they do to you?”

“Got me in the leg,” Josh said, unnervingly calm.

“The leg?” Jason exclaimed. “You need that leg!” 

“Nah. I need my hands and my face. They left all that alone.” Josh smiled weakly. “I’ll be fine.”

Meryl spoke up, “I hate to ruin the romantic moment, but could you girls get him up to the infirmary before he bleeds to death?” As Tanith, Mariah, and Gracie followed the order, Meryl grabbed Jeremy’s arm. “How the hell’d you let this happen?”

“If you’d seen the alternative,” Jeremy said, “you’d understand.” Charlie had heard him weary and resigned like this before, but never about anything unrelated to _Scheherezade’s_ engine.

Tanith ran over. “Sorry to interrupt, but we got a truck full of puppies and some paperwork, says they’re our problem.”

Charlie sighed. “Could be worse. Remember that shipment of pigs?”

When Charlie reached the cargo bay door, a man hopped down from the truck cab. It was Evan from the conference room, still in his black suit with the silver snake, still smug. “It’s your lucky day,” he told Charlie. “The Orange needs to see this precious cargo safely transported to Angel. We have a buyer there, ready to receive you, but time is of the essence. You wouldn’t let us down again, would you?”

“We’d never be so bold,” Charlie said. “Rest assured, they’re in good hands.”

Evan reached out and kissed Tanith’s hand. She shuddered. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “As a sign of my trust and my affection, then, we’ve included one more animal than the manifest calls for. I do hope you’ll choose your favorite, Mrs. White, and keep it as a reminder of the Orange’s generosity.”

“As a reminder of how we’re meant to behave, more like,” Tanith said. “Obedient and blindly loyal.”

“Why do you always have to read into things?” Evan said, like he was dredging up old fights. “Anyhow, there’s enough puppy chow in that drum for five days. If those puppies arrive hungry - or worse - we’ll find out. And you’ll be dealt with accordingly.”

“It’s a five-day journey to Angel, on the nose,” Charlie said.

“Well, then, you should leave right away,” Evan said. His henchmen had finished unloading the cages, which they’d arranged in a stacked semicircle around Jason’s showy silver car. One of them tipped his cap as he climbed back into the truck. 

When the truck had roared away, Charlie slammed the button to close the cargo door. “Best set a course for Angel,” he told Tanith.

She stood silent and livid for a moment. The puppies squealed and yipped. “Reckon I’d best do that,” she said.

“Let Maia take the controls once we’re out of orbit,” Charlie said. “You’ve had quite a day. You should relax. Pick out a puppy.”

“I don’t want the Orange’s bribes, no matter how adorable,” she said.

“We’ll be left with the extra dog either way. Might as well pick the best one.”

She stared at him, arms folded, for a long moment. “That’s how you keep us flying, don’t you?” She tilted his chin and kissed him. “You put your heart aside and just muscle through.”

“Not for you,” Charlie said. “Never for you.”

She kissed him again. “I gotta go get this boat into the sky.”

“Gotta keep us flying,” he echoed as she walked away.


End file.
